In this article, we revisit the radical roots of adult education for social change by developing community-based anti-racism education through participatory action research. Drawing on critical race theory (CRT) as its theoretical framework, we incorporate principles of participatory action research (PAR) to conceptualize community-based…

This article addresses the question of how theatre interventions as elements of a participatory and action-oriented research design can contribute to justice-oriented Caring Community processes. Caring Communities are local initiatives that strengthen everyday solidarity through civic engagement and neighbourhood support, link informal and formal…

In this article, I discuss conceptual and methodological considerations for the design and implementation of Critical Race Feminista Participatory Action Research (Critical Race Feminista-PAR) projects in higher education. I share some theoretical considerations of Critical Race Feminista praxis and methodologies that have been made by scholars…

Dominant knowledge systems rely on a Western perspective of creating and disseminating new information. These systems marginalize traditional ways of knowing including co-creating knowledge, personal narratives and lived experiences, as well as inherited cultural knowledge. Additionally, Western knowledge systems have centered the White adult male…

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an overarching methodology taken up across various disciplines. Rather than a specific approach, CBPR encompasses varied action-based methodologies. While many disciplines use CBPR methodologies in their work, Fat Studies has yet to broadly create research that uses CBPR methodologies. Fat Studies…

This study was a qualitative participatory action research study that focused on the lived experiences of Black women who received prenatal care and gave birth in the state of North Carolina. The study was meant to investigate and address the racism and implicit biases these women experienced from the medical community they encountered, and the…

One model for engaging young people to be more civically minded and to help them develop a critically conscious sociopolitical identity is through youth organizing and participatory action research. Over the last 3 years, I have worked with Leaders Organizing 2 Unite and Decriminalize (LOUD) members--a majority of which we system-involved--who…

This paper suggests formal education must take new approaches to meet the social opportunities and challenges brought about through the information revolution, in particular access to new information, capabilities for new types of communities that can challenge place-based agendas, and distributed power and voice. The tools of the Internet are…

This article will discuss "reflections" by six youth activists in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, who were interviewed for an international collaborative research project which explored civic forms of youth-led activism which could lead to social change. The aim was to investigate different forms of civic engagement and youth activism in…

This commentary links child-family research to the systematic inquiry approaches under the umbrellas of student voice and youth participatory action research. It reviews the underlying premises of the latter two bodies of work, including recognizing young people as knowers, partners, and change agents through conducting research with rather than…

In this article, the authors share what they learned from considering a collection of narrative reflections written by six high school educators, all co-authors, who have integrated youth participatory action research (YPAR) into their instructional practice. Taken together, the written reflections shed light on teachers' reasons not only for…

Social justice in education can be understood as empowering students to participate meaningfully in their education on par with peers. Participation amongst students in higher education classrooms is becoming a concern because of increased globalisation and local student diversity. In this work, Nancy Fraser's three-dimensional framework of social…

The U.S. education system often functions as an adverse developmental context for Black students. Discriminatory policies and racist ideologies contribute to a series of cascading inequities in students' learning experiences. For example, years of data indicate an overrepresentation of Black students suspended and/or expelled from school.…

This paper reports on the process of participatory action research from a three-year project to co-create ideas to reduce educational inequity with young people funded by Erasmus+. The project involved 10 academics and 50 university students from Norway, Denmark and England who co-researched 200 young people's experiences of educational inequity.…

We examine findings from an ongoing, arts-based youth participatory action research (YPAR) project that aims to make space for diverse high school students to express their experiences within structures of injustice, as played out through schooling practices. Over the past two years, our collective has gathered and collaboratively analyzed…